Arizona prisons to test 38K inmates for COVID; staff certified for vaccines
Dec 29, 2020, 6:00 PM
(Arizona Department of Corrections Photo)
(Arizona Department of Corrections Photo)
PHOENIX — The Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry announced on Monday that it will be starting a second round of coronavirus testing for almost 38,000 inmates and will make 4,000 rapid virus tests available for staff.
The inmate testing will commence in January in collaboration with the Arizona Department of Health Services, while the rapid testing for staff will be used on an as-needed basis, according to a press release.
The 4,000 rapid antigen tests are self-contained nasal-swabs and yield results within 15 minutes via a mobile app.
Those tests will be made available to all staff members, such as health care providers for Arizona’s inmate population, correction officers, professional staff and contract staff.
RELATED STORIES
“Since March, more than 85,000 inmate tests have been conducted across our state and contract prison facilities,” ADCRR Director David Shinn said in the release.
“The health of our inmates and staff is a top priority and we continue to take proactive steps to mitigate the spread of the virus.”
The medical staff that is administrating the tests will be doing so after completing training this week offered by the Arizona Army National Guard.
Additionally, health care professionals for the state’s inmate population have already been certified to administer COVID-19 vaccines, which are scheduled to be given to correctional facility employees during the Prioritized 1B phase of Arizona’s distribution overview.
The state health department on Monday also added the 75-and-up age group to the new classification.
The first phase of Arizona’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan will take place through spring 2021.
“The moment that the vaccine is available and delivered to us, we will distribute that vaccine in hours, a day or two at most,” Shinn told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Dec. 10.
“We have plans that are ready to act once it’s received.”
